8:03 am, June 10, 2020
Online advertising needs to be placed where your customers can be found – and most of them will be surfing Facebook at one point or another.
If you’re not using Facebook Marketplace yet then as the industry reopens in June it could be an opportunity to consider.
The social media site is taking car listings ever more seriously as it looks to increase its offering to car dealers. Here, we’ve chatted to the firm’s Sara Tassari, strategic partnership manager, about how it works and why you should be using it.
You can also watch our video interview with Sara, by clicking on the video above.
Why advertise on Facebook Marketplace?
There’s huge scale for a start. The social media giant reports that millions of people a month click on vehicle listings and as it’s built into the platform it’s easy for users to find what they’re looking for.
Facebook says: ‘Marketplace is a dedicated discovery and search experience on Facebook designed to help millions of people find their next vehicle.’
Why was Marketplace created?
Well, believe it or nor, Facebook has always seen commerce as core to its platform. The firm spotted that after creating groups, many were using these to buy and sell goods.
‘Groups weren’t designed for this purpose and it wasn’t the smoothest experience – but people wanted it,’ said Facebook.
‘Marketplace was created to make that experience better – from making it easier to browse to adding search capabilities.’
Why should I use Facebook Marketplace as a car dealer?
There are a number of different benefits for using Marketplace – the biggest of which is you can do it at no cost. It is free to list your stock, but there may be a cost from Marketplace Inventory Partners for value added services.
There’s also the fact it targets buyers with mobile friendly listings, it can deliver vehicle information like model, price and mileage and you can answer queries via Facebook Messenger.
How do I set up my car listings on Facebook Marketplace?
Dealers have to go through a partner at the moment who can set them up and send their stock through to Facebook Marketplace.
These partners in the UK include 67 Degrees, GForces, Autoweb Design, eBay Motors Group and many others. The full list can be found here.
The other option is to contact Facebook directly who work with dealer groups, marketing agencies and software providers to help facilitate the feeds. You can email [email protected] or click here for more information.
How do customers get access to Facebook Marketplace?
If you’re a first time user on a mobile device, open the Facebook app and bring up the menu by clicking on the bottom-right corner (on iOS) or top-right corner (on Android).
Click on Marketplace to open the Marketplace Feed, and then select the ‘Vehicles’ category to browse the feed, or use the search function to find a specific vehicle.
If you use Marketplace regularly, a shortcut may appear in the navigation bar of your Facebook app, so you can easily access Marketplace from the homepage. From a web browser (e.g. when accessing from a laptop or computer), go to this url.
How does Facebook Marketplace work for customers?
People can browse cars on Marketplace under the Vehicles category. They can filter by price, vehicle type, condition, make and model, mileage and more. They can also update their location and expand their search to other areas.
When clicking on a vehicle, people can read a detailed description provided by the seller, view more images of the vehicle, and see where the dealership is located.
They can also phone the seller, or send them a message to enquire further, or they can save and share the vehicle listing.
How do car dealers get the leads?
Depending on the way the listing is created, enquiries will be sent to dealers using Facebook Messenger, or an instant lead form.
Messenger is an instant messaging platform that’s built into a dealers Facebook Page. Dealers can use it to enable technicians and sales reps to chat and answer questions, just like they would over the phone or in person.
Enquiries submitted using an instant lead form will capture the customer’s name, email address, and phone number.
- Thanks for Facebook for their help pulling this article together. Contact them by email [email protected] or click here for more information.
